The 2026 U.S. Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center runs from August 23 through September 13 in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Alongside matches featuring players like Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz, and Coco Gauff, the tournament features high-end concessions including $100 caviar nuggets and viral cocktails.
Buying a ticket to Flushing Meadows is just the opening line item for spectators attending the tournament. Visitors pouring into Queens to watch top-tier tennis can also test the limits of their bank accounts at the concession stands, where luxury food items sit side by side with stadium classics.
Caviar Nuggets, Lobster Rolls, and Viral French Dips on the Menu
Front Office Sports’ Stadium Eats showcased a menu featuring a $39.50 lobster roll, a $38 French dip sandwich, and $100 caviar nuggets. Alongside these luxury offerings, the U.S. Open introduced a new Moët Serve cocktail served in a custom cup shaped like a tennis ball can.
Fear not, for the signature Honey Deuce hasn’t gone anywhere, either. If caviar nuggets aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of traditional fare available at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Among the major additions is internet personality Henry Laporte, widely known on social media as Salt Hank. After months of tracking by tournament organizers, Laporte is debuting his decadent comfort food at the venue, planning to churn out a whopping 1,500 sandwiches a day during the Open.
“We were still pretty new when the call happened, so I wasn’t even sure we were capable of doing it because it’s such a large platform,” Henry Laporte recalled.
USTA National Tennis Center COO Danny Zausner confessed to being one of the 2.5 million hungry fans on TikTok and 1.6 million followers on Instagram who became obsessed with Laporte’s decadent comfort-food creations before bringing him to Queens. It's unlike any other prime rib sandwich I've ever tasted in my life, and I've gone through my fair share of them,
Zausner said of the viral sandwich.
Scaling the Culinary Empire at the USTA National Tennis Center
The Open’s modern status as an anticipated culinary event is no accident. Danny Zausner, serving as a twenty-year veteran of the organization, developed the tournament’s food and beverage program alongside colleague Chris Dudley. Transforming the grounds required a long road where Zausner remembers it wasn’t long ago that they were reaching out to skeptical chefs, who took an awful lot of convincing, early in the transformation.
“What we have is not just unrivaled in sports, but entertainment in general,” Danny Zausner told The Post.
We're getting more calls than we ever did,
Zausner said, noting his goal is a popular spectrum of eats from chefs who can deliver to the masses. The fan who comes out on the first day of the Opens is entitled to the same experience that a fan who comes out for the finals. We won't settle for less than that,
he said. Zausner added, We always say: we can't control the weather and we can't control the matches, but we can control the food and drink, and we try to give people a proper New York City experience.
Vendors’ fans should expect everything from NYC foodie favorites like Carnegie Deli and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream to succulent fish from Red Hook Lobster Pound and juicy meat courtesy of Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, to name a few, to serve crowds that regularly exceed 75,000-plus people fifteen straight days—which is like hosting a Super Bowl every day for two weeks.
The Honey Deuce Phenomenon and Cocktail Sales Targets
Naturally, no visit to the Open would be complete without a sip of Honey Deuce: the viral cocktail in a keepsake cup made with Grey Goose vodka, lemonade, and raspberry liquor—topped with a Honeydew melon ball reminiscent of the tennis balls on the court. The refreshing creation put the Open’s food and beverage offering on the map over the years.
The impetus came out of my trip to the Kentucky Derby almost 20 years ago,
Zausner said of the drink, which was later invented by restaurateur Nick Mautone, adding, but instead of bourbon, we knew vodka was perfect for New York in the summer.
In 2007, the first year they were introduced, Zausner says they sold a mere 5,000. The next year, we sold 25,000 and were off to the races.
These days, Zausner and his team anticipate selling over 800,000 Honey Deuce cocktails this year.
“People come through our gates and ask, ‘Where’s the nearest Honey Deuce?'” according to Zausner.
The main draw for the U.S. Open got underway Sunday and will continue through to the men’s singles final on Sept. 13.
